Different types of moveable barrier operators have been sold over the years and these barrier operator systems have been used to actuate various types of moveable barriers. For example, garage door operators have been used to move garage doors and gate operators have been used to open and close gates.
Such barrier movement operators may include various mechanisms to facilitate this opening and closing of the barrier. For instance, a wall control unit may be coupled to the barrier movement operator and send signals to a head unit thereby causing the head unit to open and close the barrier. In addition, operators often include a receiver unit at the head unit to receive wireless transmissions from a hand-held code transmitter or from a keypad transmitter that may be affixed to the outside of the area barred by the barrier or other structure.
In movable barrier operator systems, the weight or tension created by the barrier is typically counterbalanced by using a spring. For example, garage door systems typically use a spring to counterbalance the weight of the door. Doors weigh a significant amount (e.g., garage doors weigh in the range of between 50 and 200 pounds for standard doors), the spring can break, for instance when the door is in the fully open position. Potential problems and/or dangers for the user can also occur when the spring is broken. If the user releases the trolley when the barrier is in the fully open position, there is the potential for the barrier to slam into the floor, possibly damaging the barrier or creating a potentially dangerous situation when the user tries to stop the door from slamming into the floor.
Previous systems have attempted to detect the aging of the springs and warn the homeowner or other user to service the spring before the spring fails. Other previous systems focused on monitoring characteristics of the spring to warn the homeowner of the impending failure of the spring. Unfortunately, both of these previous systems allow the user or homeowner to ignore the warnings and thereby allow the spring to fail. Consequently, the homeowner or other users were subject to the inconvenience presented when the spring failed. Additionally, severe damage to or the destruction of the barrier may be caused due to unheeded warnings regarding impending potential spring failure.